More on our fountains, and some interesting details ..

Each municipality (Capicorsine) has a set of public fountains. The doyenne was listed in Olmeta di Capicorsu, it dates from 1393. Many others had been funded in the nineteenth century by the Capcorsins of America. Still remaining supplied, they are like in Luri, in the heart of a true network of irrigation for ditches, canals and ponds. Several have been restored, for example Brando Pietracorbara or Barrettali. They are part of the architectural capital of the village and have become ‘places of memory’.

These fountains define the ancient paths. With a trough built quite low to the ground, they once allowed to packsaddle animals, or draft animals to drink at the same time as the men did. The simplest are made of carved stone weir. The most sophisticated in the neoclassical style, composed of arches and two or three sleepers. They have not all remained in their original state, but their restoration and boosting now mobilise municipalities and associations. Thus, the Purettu fountain-washhouse in Brando, was renovated in 2006. In Pietracorbara, an association has regular visits every summer for the four renovated fountains. At Ogliastru, the “fountain head” became a curiosity. At Cinnamon (hamlet of Centuri) the fountain Palmieri (the contributing family name), set in the rock, is also frequently visited, as that of the “breasts fountain ” at the northern entrance of Nonza, where it is said that the breasts of the martyr Sainte Julie had been cut off and thrown against a rock – from which, a miraculous spring would have sprung.Text: the Cap Corse community